


Let It Be - The Appendix

by Persephoneshadow



Series: Let It Be Verse [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, Mary Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephoneshadow/pseuds/Persephoneshadow
Summary: Annotations and Easter Eggs forLet It Be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Herein you will find all the Easter Eggs, spoilers and various minutiae hidden in [Let It Be](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8606395/chapters/19736908). Here be spoilers so I don’t recommend reading through until you finish the full fic.
> 
> Quotes from the text of the fic are in italics.

_Let It Be_

This was the title of the fic from the first day I thought of the idea and the lyrics “When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” The great irony is that Cas’s actions are the exact opposite of letting it be. However, the song is about hope in darkness and love, and I feel like it still fits.

 

Prologue:

_“Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don’t look back!” his mother yells as flames explode from the nursery. “Now, Dean! Go!”_

This line, and much of the action obviously, is lifted directly from the Pilot (Ep. 1.01) of Supernatural.

 

Times of Trouble

Title reference: Let It Be. All chapters titles are Beatles songs titles or lyrics. Because it's canon that Mary loves the Beatles, and because my own mom loved them, they became a big theme of the story.

 

_“Lettie Walsh called.”_

Lettie Walsh is a character introduced/referenced as a friend of Mary and the Campbells in “In The Beginning.” (Ep. 4.03).

 

**_Samuel_ **

The decision to include Samuel in the early year’s of Dean and Sam’s lives was very easy to make. I wanted more of a stable full family for them, and for Mary to have support, but also for someone to be lost as well later on. In considering the implications of Castiel changing history, I had to contend with the fact that changing things meant the events of “In The Beginning” would happen differently, though generally the same because of fate and such. Thus, Samuel was alive. This is the first clue that what happened with Mary living instead of John changed everything.

 

_Samuel Campbell has been hunting monsters for fifty years._

[Samuel’s birth year is 1931](http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Samuel_Campbell)

 

_“No, Mary Winchester, listen to me,” Missouri protests, her face deadly serious. “That night, someone threw a rock in a pond and I don’t know how far the ripples are gonna go, but they’ve already changed things.”_

Missouri had to come into the story, early, considering she was the first person that explain the supernatural to John (see ep. 1.09 – Home). Here she’s referencing how Samuel is now alive and the other ripples through fate Cas’s intervention caused.

 

_To Mary’s surprise, it only takes four calls before a surprisingly chipper employee of Gracie’s Heating and Cooling takes pity on her and agrees to come over. The sight of a short man in coveralls on her front steps thirty minutes later is possibly the most wonderful thing she’s ever seen._

This is Gabriel and yes “Gracie’s” is a pun. Gabe also is the one that broke the furnace in the first place. He’s named Paul as a nod to the Beatles as well, since he later becomes Ringo.

 

_Her father’s dry cleaning business – she’s never really been sure if it’s a front or an actual second career – pays his bills well enough, and could keep them fed for a while._

Samuel’s dry cleaning business is pseudo-canon. It’s references in a spin off novel _Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon_. I liked the idea so I kept it.

 

_“I…yes.” Mary takes the man’s hand and a small shock goes through her body. It really hasn’t been so long since she’s touched a stranger that it should feel that odd, she thinks, but everything is odd these days._

This is Gabriel warding Mary. The nose boop is when he wards Sam. He got Dean and Samuel at other points.

 

_“Angels are watching over you.”_

One of the main premises of the fic was “what if this was literally true?" The first mention of Mary saying this was "Houses of the Holy" (ep. 2.13).

 

_Three days later she learns that Lettie Walsh died in a fire._

This and the other deaths referenced in the next chapter are references to how many of Mary’s relatives and friends were killed after her, which Sam discovers in “The Kids Are Alright” (Ep 3.02).

 

Don’t Make It Bad

Title reference: Hey Jude.

 

_Though George three houses down has a Mondale lawn sign that makes Mary doubt his sanity._

There’s the fourth Beatle (had to get the name in). Walter Mondale lost the presidential election catastrophically in 1984.

 

**_Kerry._ **

I toyed with a version where Kerry was Pamela, but that got too sad. I really liked how her character came out any way. Most of the names of orginal characters in the fic are friends of mine, except for Kerry. 

 

_She'd eloped in Reno so there was no wedding to miss._

I had to add this very late, because this detail was revealed in the season 12 premiere, “Keep Calm and Carry On” (ep 12.01). Another reference to Mary hunting after Dean was born was also added. In general Mary returning to the show didn't mess with too much. I used Dean as a starting point for her characterization, and her guilt and paranoia came from there. I think the Mary we're seeing in season 12 has a lot in common with the Mary in this fic, which is cool since the fic was finished before I saw any of season 12.

 

_A few blow ups when John disappeared and she was sure he wasn’t coming back._

Reference to the scene with Mary we see in Dean's heaven on “Dark Side of the Moon” (ep. 5.16).

 

 _“Of course, honey,” Mary says, pulling Dean closer as he rests his head on her chest. “_ _Hey Jude, don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better_ _…”_

Mary singing hey Jude to Dean is mentioned in “The Song Remains the Same” (5.13) – another big character inspiration for Mary throughout the fic.

 

_And another fire in Saginaw, Michigan on a baby’s six month birthday. A distant Campbell relative had passed that one along to Samuel. It should have made Mary happy to have more information but all it did was make her realize that this thing had a plan that was so much bigger than anything she could imagine. She considered making a trip, asking the Miller family if they remember a man with yellow eyes eleven years before, but then she found out the mother had died and couldn’t bring herself to intrude on that grief._

This references Max Miller and his family as seen in “Nightmare” (ep 1.14)

 

Oh Blah Dee

Title: The song "Oh Blah Dee" is about domestic life, so it worked here. It's also the Beatles song my mom used to sing to me.

 

_Dean likes to huddle in the back and play with his army men, or pretend he’s driving._

You bet your ass that’s a Swan Song reference (ep. 5.22).

 

_“Hey big guy, no escort today?” Kerry asks with a smile._

_“Mom said to tell you she had business,” Dean repeats._

_“Yeah, she called. Three times. I was talking about…” Kerry looks him over then shrugs. “Well, I’m always happy to have you. Sam’s in the living room.”_

Kerry senses Cas isn’t there.

 

_**Rufus** _

_Rufus pushes on. “I tried it too. Met a nice gal in Omaha a few years back. Kept finding my ass back in Nebraska until I thought I was ready to hang it all up. Spent most of last year tryin’ to be a respectable member of society. But I kept hearin’ stories, gettin’ calls. After a while I couldn’t let it go.”_

I combined two reference we get to Rufus’s past here. In “Safe House” (Ep. 11.16) he mentions that the only year of his life he was nice was 1985, which he also says was the worst year of his life. I combined that with the loss we know about in Omaha (Ep. 6.16). Also it should be clear that Rufus us talking about Bobby re: the case in South Dakota. Rufus losing his brother is my own invention. It should be clear that I adore Rufus, and his death is one of the few on the show that makes me furious. I loved making him a part of this story.

 

_“Little…” The man opens yet another door and Dean catches a whiff of the air from outside. Must be where they keep the trash as well as shipments because it smells rotten and awful._

Demon! The first of many of Azazel’s agents that Gabringo keeps away from the boys.

 

_Hopefully the hospital and local police wouldn’t spend too much time looking for Linda McCartney and Sammy Davis when they investigated things._

A few pop culture aliases for Mary and Rufus – he likes famous black musicians, she’s the wife of a Beatle.

 

_It always made her sad that she never got to meet Millie Winchester. Nowadays they would have so much to talk about._

These are sneaky references to Henry Winchester’s disappearance ("As Time Goes By," ep 8.12) and his wife and like ("Mother’s Little Helper," ep. 9.17). Can't wait for these versions of everyone to meet Henry when he shows up in 2013...

 

 Listen to the Colors of Your Dreams

Title ref: Tomorrow Never Knows Also covered in the movie “The Craft” which I loved as a teen. Castiel’s first section is very much inspired by the simple reference to spending time as a “wavelength of celestial intent."  This also influenced the chapter title.

 

_When there is a great outcry, he can still perceive it. The last was years ago. It came when another angel fell. Differently from Castiel, of course. He heard the screams of her name as she burned through the sky._

This is Anna.

 

_“I hate ghouls,” Mary groans, slamming the trunk of Bill’s Taurus closed and removing the three empty gasoline containers from sight. “I’m going to need three showers to get this smell out of my hair.”_

The ghouls Mary and Bill take out are located in Wisdom, Minnesota. These are the ghouls that John took out when he met Kate Milligan ("Jump the Shark," ep 4.19). Adam doesn’t exist in this world, but at least his mom got a better fate and someone still had to take care of those ghouls.

 

_In the last few years the Campbell luck has run out and the family numbers are dwindling fast. Mary still regrets missing Shari’s funeral. It’s strange that Chris and the other parents among them, even after the losses, don’t seem to worry about their kids the way Mary does. Maybe because ‘normal’ isn’t in their vocabulary. She still worries about them; about the violence Gwen and Christian and Mark might grow to know. So far Bill and Ellen have been the only parents that understood wanting to protect children instead of raising them as soldiers in some war that’s never going to end._

Again, reference to “The Kids Are Alright” (Ep 3.02) and the fate of the Campbells, and the family we meet in “Exile On Main Street” (Ep. 6.01).

 

_“Rufus’s charity case? I thought he nearly got them killed on some routine haunting?”_

Reference to the haunting we see in “Death’s Door” (Ep. 7.10).

 

_“Ringo ate another stick of butter.” He doesn’t tell her the part about Sam being the one who fed it to him and laughed as the dog licked at it like an ice cream cone. It’s funny cause when Ringo gets ice cream he tries to chew it._

Every piece of junk food Gabringo eats in something my old dog, Valen, actually ate. She broke the butter dish with this one. I have a corgi as well and the two of them combined for a lot of Ringo’s antics. [Here are some pics](http://consulting-cannibal.tumblr.com/tagged/spn-trueforms).

 

_“Hey, speaking of that jackass,” Bill pipes up as Bobby hands him a dirty glass with a generous pour of something that Mary can smell from five feet away. “Please don’t tell me he called you about the Shtriga in Wisconsin.”_

Referencing “Something Wicked” (Ep. 1.18) where John maybe did use the boys as bait.

 

_“You should take a look at my family’s collection. Not that I’m allowed near it at the moment.” Mary grimaces at the reminder of their continuing estrangement. “They’ve been building it for a few centuries.”_

Referencing the library we see in “Frontierland” (ep. 6.18). Those books make it to Bobby’s later in this story.

 

_Bobby sighs and looks up. “Jim Murphy’s got…something in Peoria. Maybe,” he tells her, the very definition of grudgingly. “Parents dead, kid snatched, might be legit. Might be nothing.”_

The kid is Ava. Jim Murphy is referenced as a hunter several times in season 1.

 

_Sure there were legends of ancient knives and other trinkets that could do it, and the relatively recent tales of Samuel Colt, but most people that that was a myth._

This is a reference to Ruby’s knife/ancient demon killing knives of the kurds.

 

_“You’ve got work to do.”_

Reference to the final line of the pilot.

 

_There are shadows lurking there too, echoes of evil so deep and fetid it hangs over the ruin like fog, but no grace._

Reference to “Home” (ep 1.09) and the poltergeist in the Winchester home that Azazel created.

 

 

It Won’t Be Long

_“So I take it New Mexico has one less Rugaru?” Bill asks after taking a swig. “You were working with Travis, right? I tell you that ass-”_

Travis is the Rugagru hunter the boys meet in “Metamorphosis” (ep 4.04).

 

 _But Matt’s a junior and just the fact he even_ _talks_ _to Dean still kinda makes Dean giddy. Or it would if giddy were a feeling he felt. Which it is not._

Matt is 100% named after Matt Cohen. Every other drama kid is named after kids I knew in High School drama.

 

_They’ve tried to bring a few people over, but Mom or Grandpa always get twitchy, and once or twice Ringo went flat out homicidal on a buddy Sam brought over (he doesn’t seem to mind Dean’s friends)._

More demons.

 

_Bobby catches her eye with an earnest look. “He tell you where the job was?”_

_Mary shakes her head._

_“Omaha.”_

Bobby and Rufus’s falling out in Omaha is referenced in “And Then There Were None” (ep 6.18).

 

Run For Your Life

_“_ Defigere et depurgare _, right? Haven’t seen that one in a century or so.”_

The spell Mary tries to use on Azazel is the one Rowena uses effectively in “Girls, Girls, Girls” (ep. 10.07). Azazel is too strong for it unfortunately.

 

Nowhere Man

_“Then what took a hunk out of Caleb in Texas last year?”_

Caleb is a fellow hunter referenced a few times in season 1.

 

_That was until Sam was fifteen and had dropped a book in front of Dean that talked about something called a Zanna. ‘Actual imaginary friends, Dean! Though they usually leave when kids get older.’_

Sully! Well, not really, but this is a reference to “Just My Imagination” (ep. 1.08) that I had to sneak in.

 

_She gets hunters passing through to assist with maintenance (when Dean isn’t there for it) and she and Jo manage the bar and waiting tables pretty well, backed up by Martin in the kitchen. Poor guy started out a hunter but got a bit too broken to stay on the road. Mary’s the one who sent him Ellen’s way and he’s been making the best wings in Nebraska since._

This is Martin Creaser from “Sam, Interrupted” (ep 5.11) and "Citizen Fang" (ep 8.09). I figured he deserved a kinder fate and wanted to establish Mary as kinder than John.

 

_“It’s cool though, they ain’t got much concrete. Only one pic too, from back in the seventies and….whoa. Looks like a whole different person.”_

This is my dumb joke about how Mary was played by a different actress in the flashbacks.

 

 _“Nah, man, aliens are_ _real_ _. But the thing is they ain’t aliens they’re…” Ash leans so close Dean that the front flair of his mullet almost brushes Dean’s face. “_ _Fairies_ _.”_

_“Fairies? Like…Tinkerbell?”_

_Ash nods slowly, knowingly glancing around like someone might be listening. “Shiny, sparkly motherfuckers.”_

“Clap Your Hands if You Believe” (ep 6.09) is one of my favorite season six episodes so I had to sneak a reference in. And it’s important that Ash is right. And yeah Ash was totally hitting on Dean. Can you blame him?

 

_Ash finds a possible hunt in Wisconsin after a few days; a series of murders and animal mutilations over several years with hearts missing all around the little town of Gratsburg._

This is the werewolf family/cult from “Sharp Teeth” (ep 9.12), which took place in Gratsburg.

 

_“Hey, Deputy. I’m good, uh, just got back from…” Mary is still terrible at lying to normal folk. “Work out of town. Hi, Owen, looks like you grew since I last saw you.”_

Jody isn’t a sheriff yet just because she’s younger at this point.

 

_Jim Murphy sent some old stuff out of Maryland, just…checking things out._

Activity around the gate to Lucifer’s cage.

 

_“Did you hear back from Caleb on that weird tooth thing? Where was it, Arkansas?” Dean asks, heading straight for the fridge. Mary slaps his hand away from the beer and he opts for a Coke, tossing one to Sam as well._

_“Yup and you can add the truth about tooth fairy to the list of things to ruin your childhood,” Bobby answers, shaking his head. “Believe me you do_ _not_ _want to see those pictures.”_

Not really an outright reference, but this alludes to Garth and the tooth fairy  hunt he mentions in “Southern Comfort” (ep 8.06).

 

_Dean’s heart sinks a bit. He’s investigated a few of the crazies over the years, on his own, of course. He’s never found much beyond unsolved mystery type crap and one that turned out to be a ghost._

Sly sort of reference to "Houses of the Holy" (ep. 2.13).

 

 

All The Lonely People

Title reference: Eleanor Rigby

 

_“Amelia did dump me though. Can’t blame her.”_

I felt bad that Claire didn’t exist in this world, but in a way it’s better than the life she had. Amelia got a better fate…poor Jimmy, though.

 

_“Tom? Really? Man, you guys have lame names.”_

Tom showed up in “Salvation” and “Devil’s trap” in season 1.

 

 

Ticket to ride

_He pulls on the soft black tee-shirt emblazoned with what seems to be an advertisement for different types of electrical current, then turns his focus to the socks and shoes._

Misha’s AC/DC shirt is pretty much canon for Cas’s first tee.

 

_“Azazel is one of the oldest demons we know of, not one of the first born or the knights of hell, but a great commander of the second generation, and one of the most powerful demons still walking the earth.”_

I had to cobble this together from canon from many seasons, we’re alluding to Cain and Abaddon and Lilith here.

 

Help Me If You Can

_“Gluttony is technically a demon, but he and is brethren are locked away in hell.”_

Reference to “The Magnificent Seven” (ep 3.01).

 

Granite, Colorado is real, Manning – which is where the vampires find Elkins in “Dean Man’s Blood” (ep 1.20) - is not. All locations and drive times are the result of me spending way too much time on Google Maps instead of wirting.

 

 _  
_ _Because when people really want something, they lie,” Cas’s voice is distant and his eyes are unfocused._

Cas is having a flashback to “Free to be You and Me” (ep 5.03).

 

_“When I was a child, I kept saying that my father was angry at me, and my parents didn’t know what I meant. Was I talking about–”_

_“Our Father, yes.” Cas says it with downcast eyes, sad and reverent._

A great deal of this is from “Heaven and Hell” (ep 4.10).

 

 

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

The park bench scene is intended as a callback to Dean and Cas talking in the playground in “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester” (ep. 4.07) which is one of the first times Cas opened up to Dean.

 

_Before her eyes Jo’s form dissolves into black smoke then vanishes._

So, we never see Meg teleport on the show, but which demons can do that and how is always iffy. However, we know demons can poof in when summoned, so the idea here is that Meg is being summoned and that’s how she is able to poof away.

 

_“It doesn’t have to be a formal prayer,” Cas explains kindly, completely oblivious to Dean’s various states of mortification. “Angels can pick up on longing, though proximity is a factor in some situations.”_

I will be forever grateful to “The Hunter Games” (ep 10.10) for this beautiful retcon.

 

Could it Be Anybody

Title reference: A little help from my friends. I’ve been lucky enough to see Rob Benedict, Louden Swain and the cast perform this song at a few Supernatural conventions, so it has extra fandom resonance for me.

**_Jody and Owen_ **

I love Jody so much, and the tragedy she had to deal with was so awful so I really wanted her specifically to get a better shot in this world. This scene between Mary and Jody talking about protecting their kids was the only one I wrote that had be crying as I was writing, because I was thinking about my own kid.

 

_“I’m praying, okay?”_

Yes this is intended as a direct callback to when Dean prays in “The Monster at the End of this Book” (ep 4.18).

 

 

The Long and Winding Road

_“I read the impressions that your previous draft left on the page,” Cas tells him nonchalantly, but then cocks his head curiously._

_“You see something else interesting?” Dean asks. Cas doesn’t seem to be looking at the spell anymore, just contemplating something. “Cas, you having one of those déjà vu moments?”_

_“Not exactly.” Cas shakes his head. “It’s not of import. Let’s proceed.”_

This is the big clue about what happened to Cas. The other reality worked like Dean’s first draft, and Cas’s memories are the impressions left on his grace/essence. This is also a good time to note that I do use those terms separately. Grace is an angel’s power, but their essence is their consciousness and what they have that is equivalent to a soul, or perhaps the same thing. This is my own invention but it’s my headcanon for the show as well.

 

 _“What the hell, man?” Dean snaps, not letting go of Castiel’s arms. He can feel the heat of Dean’s hands through the rough fabric. It’s very nice. It feels like so long since he’s touched Dean or seen him and he looks so_ _young_ _._

_“I don’t understand the question,” Castiel says because Dean looks like he wants him to answer. At least he’s not angry any more, though Castiel can’t quite remember what he did to deserve Dean’s wrath, but he knows it was something very bad._

_“You said you’d be fine! And then you passed out in the street!”_

_The street? Castiel blinks, looking around to determine his bearings. Dean. And Bobby. No Sam though and…Mary? Mary Winchester is looking at him with worry. They’re in an alley somewhere._

_“Where are we again?” Castiel asks, grasping for a memory that’s rapidly seeping away, like oil spreading over water leaving just a sheen of evidence it was there…_

When Cas wakes up he thinks he’s back in the canon verse, somewhere around “Meet the New Boss” (ep 7.01). The oil reference is meant to evoke the leviathans.

 

 

Carry that Weight

_A man that could have been a teacher or janitor or who knows what in another life strides forward._

This is a reference to the fact Azazel’s meat suit was a janitor in “In My Time of Dying” (ep. 2.01) and I used the description because Azazel will always be Fred Lehane to me.

 

_Dean is always older, in Castiel’s dreams. He remembers this now. There is a heaviness to him too that is strange but not unfamiliar. His smile is not as easy and sometimes it does not reach his eyes. Eyes that reflect horrors cut from brimstone and blackness. He still laughs though. Still prays. Still bleeds and seethes and rails and speaks to Castiel of freedom. It’s a lesson Castiel is not good at teaching, even when his voice is loud enough to reach the heavens. But his hands are covered in blood. First red, then black._

Cas dreams of the other reality, including leviathan goo.

 

_“I will put nair in your shampoo again, jerk,” Dean growls._

_“Oh you’re on, bitch,” Sam cackles._

Two easter eggs here: nair in the shampoo is reference to the prank wars they talk about in “Hell House” (ep 1.18) and of course jerk/bitch is a reference to the common exchange in the show. Here though Sam says bitch and dean says jerk, which is flipped from the regular version. It’s subtle but it’s too show how everything is a bit flipped in this reality.

 

_“What’s it been, seven hundred years?” Lilith asks with acid in her tone. “Since you let those librarians banish me?”_

_“Let’s not dwell on the past,” Azazel purrs. “Abaddon took care of most of them, if that makes you feel better.” The two circle each other like wolves, yellow and white flickering over the faces they have stolen. Ava can’t decide if it is beautiful or grotesque._

It made sense to have the Men of Letters be the ones that banished Lilith. I liked adding the connection and having an excuse to mention Abaddon and Cain.

 

**_Angels and Demons_ **

It’s never explicit in the show, but I like the idea that heaven and hell were working together to release Lucifer, or at least the higher ups. Crowley knowing Zachariah makes sense since he knows Naomi as well.

The trueforms of all the angels and demons that Ava can see were very much inspired by the art of [Scoutstiel/Consulting-Cannibal](http://consulting-cannibal.tumblr.com/tagged/spn-trueforms).

 

_“Lovely,” Crowley smiles. “It’s a deal.”_

_“I’m not kissing you,” Zachariah sneers._

_“Tease,” Crowley shoots back. “Now, snatch me that angel and I’ll get you a soul.”_

It’s because they don’t kiss, and hence don’t make an actual formal deal, that Crowley is able to betray everyone later. He knows there’s a claim on Dean’s soul already.

 

In My Life

_“Where would you go? Purgatory?” Castiel thinks Dean means it as a joke but it sends ripples of cold through Castiel, all the way into his grace. “Or…not?” Dean adds, obviously worried by Castiel’s expression._

_“Purgatory is where the souls of…monsters go,” Castiel explains uneasily._

_“Oh, uh, cool, I guess, never thought about that,” Dean murmurs. “Where do angels go?”_

_“I don’t know.” Even that answer still feels wrong._

Flashback alert!

 

_A loud bark precedes the intrusion of a cold nose and huge ears between them by only half a second._

_“Godamnit, dog!” Dean exclaims, jumping back as the squirming corgi squeezes between them and into Dean’s lap, panting and grinning._

One: It’s funnier knowing this is Gabriel. Two: This happens to me all the time because my dog gets very jealous. Corg-blocked.

 

_Uriel and Balthazar_

Since Cas was never in heaven to take Anna’s place in command of the garrison, that fell to Uriel. He and Balthazar have the same vessels…because.

 

 

Helter Skelter

_“Abner?” Castiel says out loud and the sound of his own voice is surprisingly loud in the empty silence._

I really like Gadreel, and so there’s lots of reference in this scene to season nine and specifically to the back story about him we get in “Road Trip” (ep 9.10).

 

_Cas in heaven/tortured_

The prayers Cas remembers are from Dean while Cas was playing god.

 

_“Let’s go somewhere more private,” Crowley says and with a snap of his fingers they’re in a decaying…factory or something. There’s a metal staircase against a wall and rows of high windows with panes broken. Crowley stands next to a wall lined in chipped tiles and stained with something that looks suspiciously like blood. “Ah, memories,” Crowley remarks, oddly._

Yes, this is where Crowley hung out in season six and opened purgatory. Crowley does know about the change in reality and is exploiting it. How? He’s Crowley.

 

Take These Broken Wings

Title reference: Blackbird

 

_“Actually I have a question for you, Chuckles,” Gabriel says with a wicked smile, stepping in front of Castiel and Balthazar as Uriel begins charging them. Gabriel’s form dissolves the instant Uriel touches it and the archangel appears behind him at the same moment, his blade sliding into Uriel’s back like a warm knife through butter. “How low can you go?” Uriel grunts, his grace shuddering and expiring as he falls to his knees. Castiel can make out the sight of his wings burning nova-hot on the angelic plane. “Believe me; that will be funny soon.”_

Gabe is making a very bad Limbo pun and breaking the fourth wall a bit too.

 

_“From our angel pals? No. But I made some sandwiches.” Her eyes are gentle and sympathetic. “And tomato rice soup.”_

Another reference to “The Song Remains the Same” and Dean’s speech to Mary in that episode (ep 5.13).

 

Cas references water quite a few times in this chapter and it’s meant to allude to him drowning in the reservoir in “Hello, Cruel World” (ep 7.02).

_“I like the banana version,” Gabriel says, nudging Sam where he sits nervously beside him across from Dean and Cas at the table. “Remember you used to share those with me all the time?”_

Sam and his peanut-butter-banana sandwiches get mentioned in “Death’s Door” (ep 7.10).

 

_“Something tells me that’s not a show at Sea World,” Dean mutters and Cas gives him a weary look._

I stole Dean’s exact line from “Are you there, God? It’s me Dean Winchester” (ep. 4.02) because it’s perfect and Dean would make the same silly joke in any reality.

 

 _“You’re worth everything,” Castiel whispers as he slips hands up Dean’s sides to his chest. Somewhere from the depth of his shattered mind, he remembers himself pressed against Dean with other words echoing._ _I did it, all of it, for you_ _. Castiel winces and draws back at the vividness of the impossible memory._

Flashback to “Point of No Return” (ep 5.18) and the fight in the alley.

 

 

Come Together

Heh. I actually didn’t get this pun until after I picked this title. But there is a version sung by Rob Benedict!

 

_“I kinda deserved that one, actually. Karma. I did some things, said some things – and they were kind of mean, stupid things. But it was the heat of the moment, you know?”_

Mystery Spot (ep 3.10) reference! Gabriel feels a bit bad for what he did to Sam.

 

_“Is this you trying the 'last night on earth’ line on me?”_

_“Well, it is one of your classics,” Cas replies and Dean scoffs._

Referencing Dean using the line, in various forms, in “Heaven and Hell” (ep. 4.10), “Free to be You and Me” (ep 5.03) and “Abandon All Hope” (ep 5.09).

 

 

Yesterday

_Ruby and Meg._

It always bugged me that we never got much of a backstory for Meg, who I love. So I added some here based on what we know and how powerful she was. I took her to be Roman or Greek (Megara) and went from there. It also made sense that Ruby was a “pupil” of Alastair too.

 

_Dean and Cas is Limbo/flashbacks_

I used the episode transcripts here. We see scenes from: “On The Head of a Pin” (ep 4.16), “Lazarus Rising” (ep. 4.01), “Lucifer Rising” (ep. 4.20), “Swan Song” (ep. 5.22), “The Man Who Would Be King” (ep. 6.20), “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (ep. 6.22), “Meet the New Boss” (ep 7.01), and “Hello, Cruel World” (ep. 7.02).

 

_Limbo_

It’s always annoyed me that we don’t know where angels go in Supernatural when they die, and I always had a vague idea that they were reborn or redistributed in some way, which is where the idea of Limbo came from. Just like Purgatory, Hell and Heaven Limbo is an afterlife from Christian myth, and it’s most memorably used in Dante’s _Inferno_ as a place where decent non-christians get to hang out. It seemed to fit thematically with the show.

Cas meeting Gabriel, Anna and Balthazar in Limbo was the first scene I dreamed up for this story, after the prologue. I wanted to change the past and have it fit in canon…and I wanted to bring back Gabe, Balthazar and Anna too because they all died so tragically. So, this scene very late in the text but early in the story was waiting for me for a long time. The idea that Cas could hear Dean praying as Bobby dies in “Death’s Door” came later.

 

_“Still can’t believe Balthazar fucked with all of history cause he hated one movie,” Dean watches his other self say._

This is all referencing “My Heart Will Go On” (ep 6.17) which is another underrated episode I really love. Between this and “The Song Remains The Same” (ep 5.13), I got a lot of the time travel inspiration.

 

_“Okay, apparently I flew too high…” Gabriel says slowly and his tone is not comforting._

Reference to the lyrics of “Carry on Wayward Son.” “I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high.”

 

A Hard Day’s Night

_“Do you though?” They all turn to see Balthazar looking breathless and smug, something like a microphone in his hands. “Because the second Gabriel informed me you were having your big pissing match up here I thought that it was the kind of thing all of Heaven needed to hear. So they did.”_

_Castiel gasps as their entire former garrison materialize behind Balthazar, and even more angels beyond that. Michael draws his blade, eyes blazing in fury as his own smaller force appears at his back._

This is the same trick Cas used on Metatron in “Do You Believe in Miracles?” (ep 9.23) and since it wrked there I figured it was fine to use here. I do like to imagine that Hannah and some of the other angels we met in later seasons are behind Balthazar.

 

_“Damnit, Gabriel…” Castiel groans, digging his fingers into the dirt of a stranger’s paradise as Dean catches him, kneeling with him on the rough ground._

The heaven they are in belongs to John Winchester.

 

 

Let Me Take You Down

Title reference: Strawberry Fields. Get it? Cause of the eating strawberries?

 

_Bobby and Mary_

When I started writing I had no intention of making these two a couple but they just…happened and I love the way they turned out. These two broken people who found strength and peace in one another are just so great together.

 

_Sam_

Seeing how Sam might change was really hard, and he does come off pretty petulant in this fic I know, but some of that is due to him being nineteen. There was a time I played with going full punk/goth with Sam but I decided to keep the floppy-haired puppy. And give him a dog. Kinda.

Also, the “Sabriel if you squint” aspects of the story just came naturally and I fully endorse that reading if it’s your thing.

 

_Chuck_

I really hope that Chuck serves as a final surprise here. He fit really perfectly and I loved getting a chance to write some of the great “god as an author” meta bits that go so well in the show. Maybe after this he’ll start a band.

 

_“This life will be small. And dirty and painful. But it will be mine and it will not be meaningless. Because I chose to live it with you.”_

Cas is intentionally paraphrasing what Anna said back in the park.

 

 

And there it is! If there’s any you think I missed or any questions or theories you have, comment away!


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